Cleaning process for urinal traps located below the floor level



E. T. AHER'N Feb. 16, 1943.

CLEANING PROCESS FOR URINAL TRAYS LOCATED BELOW THE FLOOR LEVEL Filed Feb. 28, 1941" INVE TOR. 1 EDWARD IT AH E'FkN we. ATT) Patented Feb. 16, 1943 V UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLEANING PROCESS FOR. URINAL TRAPS LOCATED BELOW THE FLOOR LEVEL 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a cleaning process for the removal of extraneous matter from the interior of urinal metal traps located below floor level.

The object therefore is to provide by this invention a process whereby the entire interior of a, urinal metal trap from the floor level to the point of disposal, or normal water level, can be thoroughly cleaned without injury tothe metal.

Solvent acid solution, commonly used for cleaning porcelain outer and interior surfaces of toilets and like fixtures, was never employed, so far as your petitioner is aware, in connection with the interior of metal traps for the reason that even the half-acid solution is known to be injurious to, metal. Therefore, to your petitioners knowledge and belief, no process previous to that about to be disclosed has ever been employed that claims to be adapted to safely and adequately clean the interior of such traps in its said entirety.

Besides the injurious effect which solvent acid solution is known to have upon metal and thus makes its use in connection with urinal traps inadvisable, there has been no process, previous to the one herein disclosed, known to your petitioner that includes the necessary elements to make possible to maintain, during the cleaning period, the solution in flooded relation to the entire trap interior aforesaid.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, the figure is an upright perspective view of a urinal, the floor and part of the wall of the trap being left open to expose the trap and its interior below the floor level, an expanded rubber stopper or plug device being shown within the trap.

With more particular reference to the improved cleaning process for urinal metal traps, of which process certain elements illustrated in the accompanying drawing are a part, the numeral I designates 1a. urinal metal trap having above it a floor opening 2 with either a removable or secured grating grille 3 having the open slots 3A and bars 313, and at the opposite end of the trap l a waste-pipe connection, as at t. The dotted line, as at v5, denotes the normal water level within the trap I, and the element 6 illustrates means adapted to maintain cleaning solution, during the cleaning period, flooded within the higher portion of the trap between the normal water level and the floor level at the removed or secured grille 3 at the floor opening2, the

' element 6 being included in the United States Letters Patent Number 2,264,822 issued to me on December 2, 1941, on an Exp-ansible collapsing plug and filler core apparatus and comprising in part the expansible and collapsible stopper or plug referred to herein as the element 6 and separably connected with the flexible tubing 6A provided with an intake valve means (not here illustrated) for an air-pump or other plug expanding means 63, the plug not being expanded until properly placed within the trap interior so that its positioning will not scrape the trap interior or injure the plug.

Together with the element E1, the cleaning process herein disclosed includes an inhibited acid solution which even with full strength acid is invested with theproperty of preventing the acid content from ttacking the metal without altering its ability to remove extraneous matter thereon. Of course inhibited acid solution is employed for many purposes, such as in the pickling process for the removal of scales from sheet metal, wire, etc., which metals are immersed in an inhibited acid solution until the scales are removed, but the use of inhibited acid solution, or in fact any other acid solution, in the cleaning process of urinal metal traps in their entirety was not known until the discovery of the process herein disclosed. I

' In the instance of either a fixed or removable grille 3, as illustrated by the Figure 1, a solvent solution of full acid strength into which an inhibitor is introduced, is first inserted within the opening 2 in a sufiicient quantity to fill the trap up to the normal water level 5, then the collapsed stopper or plug 6 attached. to the flexible tubing 6A is pushed down through the opening 2 to the desired location within the trap l where the plug 6 is expanded as illustrated by the Figure 1, the expansion of the plug 6 being accomplished by means of air forced through the flexible tubing 6A and into the plug 6 by any convenient means, such as for instance the airpump 63. After the plug 6 has been expanded, additional inhibited acid solution is then poured into the opening 2 until the trap I, above the expanded plug 6, is filled up to the floor level 8 or grille 3. When the necessary cleaning period has elapsed in which period the inhibited acid solution content beyond the stopper or plug 6 has spent its energy in the trap section IA adjacent the waste-pipe 4, land the inhibited acid solution content within the trap section [B above the plug 6 has exercised its full function, the plug 6 is collapsed and drawn out through the opening 2 and the entire contents of the trap I is thus permitted to seek its normal water level at 5 and the trap I flushed.

sage, due to the gradual and continued accumulation of organic and inorganic matter, the presence of which is attended with foul smelling and This action in the process prevents the bacteria breeding conditions caused by the inr sufficient method of cleaning by flushing withsoap and alkali solutions, which are not effective in dissolving scale, and the partial cleaning of traps and grilles with uninhibited weak acid solutions. The advantages in the use of an inhibited, in place of an untreated acid solution, as the third element of the improved process are at least three fold: in'permittingthe inhibition of full strength or strong acid solutions, the use of which inhibited acid results in quicker and more thorough cleaning of metal traps without causing damage tothe metal should the solution be left in the trap longer than required; the guarding against corrosion, pitting, blistering, rusting and dissolving of metal; and the elimination of dangerous quantities of hydrochloric acid fumes and hydrogen, both of which would be destructive and objectionable.

The use of the stopper element 6 in connection with the use of inhibited acid solutions, as herein set forth, has many advantages over the present or heretofore known processes or practices in the matter of cleaning urinal metal traps.

I claim:

A cleaning process for the removal of extraneous matter from the interior surface of a standard low-inside-diameter of a urinal metal tra located below floor level and pipe connection leading from the floor inlet thereto, the process comprising removing water found standing within said trap; inserting sufficient quantity of inhibited acid solution through the floor inlet to within the said tnap to fill the said trap up to normal water level; plugging the interior of the trap at an intermediate point thereof so that the inserted solution stands upon opposite sides of the plugged location of said trap; in-

serting additional inhibited acid solution in sufficient quantity to complete the filling of the pipe connection above said normal water level up to the floor inlet; permitting the inserted inhibited acid solution to stand within said trap and pipe connection during a sufiicient cleaning period without injury to the metal thus contacted by the acid; eliminating the plugged condition of said trap to permit the cleaning solution to recede therein to said normal water level; and thoroughly flushing the said trap with water to empty the removed matter therefrom.

2. A cleaning process for the removal of extraneous matter from the interior surface of a standard loW-inside-diameter of a urinal metal trap and pipe connection leading from the inlet thereto, the process comprising inserting sufilcient quantity of inhibited acid solution within said trap'to fill the said trap up to normal Water level; plugging the trap at an intermediate interior point thereof so that the inserted solution stands upon opposite sides of the plugged location of said trap; inserting additional inhibited acid solution in sufiicient quantity to complete the filling of the pipe connection above said normal water level up to said inlet; permitting the inserted inhibited acid solution to stand within said trap and pipe connection during a sufficient cleaning period without injury to the metal thus contacted by the acid; eliminating the plugged condition of said trap to permit the cleaning solution to recede therein to said normal water level; and thoroughly flushing the said tra with water to empty the removed matter therefrom.

3. A cleaning process for the removal of extraneous matter from the interior surface of a standard low-inside-diameter urinal trap, with a constricted inlet and pipe connection, the process including inserting a sufiicient quantity of inhibited acid solution to fill said trap to normal water level; plugging up the combined trap and pipe connection at an intermediate location such that inserted solution stands beyond the plugged location thereof; inserting a further quantity of inhibited acid solution sufilcient to fill said trap and its pipe connection up to the inlet; retaining EDWARD T. AHERN. 

